By the time the A4UAwards ceremony in London comes around on 2nd June, I will have been a part of the Azam Marketing team for exactly six months – and what a fantastic way to celebrate!

I was really proud when I found out we had been shortlisted for the award of Affiliate Management Agency of 2009. As my colleague Nadeem said in his blog post earlier this week, the award is extra-special because the nomination came from members of the affiliate marketing community.

Nadeem has more experience in the affiliate industry than most and despite his modesty, my colleagues and I all hope this nomination demonstrates how much he has achieved in building the profile of our agency since Azam Marketing first started way back in 1997 (albeit under a different company name). I know that Nadeem has many friends in the industry who have supported our agency over the years, and we are grateful to everyone who continues to recommend us.

At a difficult time for the marketing industry in which many people are a bit under the weather it’s great to see the buzz that an event like the A4U Awards can create. I’m lucky to be going to the awards ceremony as a guest of fellow category nominees, Existem Affiliate Management. Matt Wood and his team always put on excellent events and I’m very grateful for Existem AM’s generosity in inviting me along to experience the thrills and spills of the night with them.

Another one of the other reasons why I’m so excited to attend is one of my favourite comedians, Jason Manford, is going to be compering. I used to listen to Jason’s XFM breakfast show on the radio every day when I commuted into Manchester and love watching his appearances on TV shows such as ‘8 out of 10 Cats’ and ‘Live at the Apollo’. So if Azam Marketing is lucky enough to win the award, I will be more starstruck than most to get up and stand on that stage!

Thank you once again to everyone who nominated us for these awards. I hope to see some of you on the 2nd of June at the ceremony, and I would also like to wish our fellow nominees good luck.